Construction’s ‘Pressure Point’ Needs Rethink: Sukkar

Josephine Sukkar has been walking worksites since 1985 and knows only too well the pressure Australia’s construction sector faces.

Deadlines slip, costs surge, supply chains falter—and increasingly, those pressures are being felt not just on balance sheets, but in the mental health of the people behind the projects.

“We’re builders—we don’t pretend talking more magically fixes mental health. That’s garbage,” the Buildcorp co-founder says. 

Sukkar and husband Tony established the Buildcorp Foundation in 2014 to give back. They canvassed employees about the causes they felt the foundation should support and it became clear that mental health was vitally important. 

She is unfaltering in her mission to support mental health not just within the 36-year-old construction firm, which turned over $823 million last year, but in the broader community. 

“One is too many—but we’re talking about nine Australians a day dying by suicide,” Sukkar says.

“Every second day in Australia, a construction worker takes their own life—that’s just sickening.

“And when someone dies by suicide, it doesn’t just affect family—it ripples through entire communities. That’s not something you can step back from.”

The initiative is more than a fundraising push—it’s part of a broader effort to confront what many now acknowledge as a worsening mental health crisis across construction and beyond.

They set themselves a target to raise $1 million in a decade. 

“We thought that was ambitious,” she says. “Our people got us there in three years.”

To date, the foundation has raised more than $7 million—largely through grassroots efforts from staff, subcontractors and industry partners.

“We don’t have any staff in the foundation,” Sukkar says. “This is all people doing it off the side of their desks.”

Sukkar says when she started talking to Lifeline, the not-for-profit told her that they couldn’t get to all the phone calls they received. 

“These are people ringing saying they’re about to take their life—and there’s no one available to answer,” she says. 

At the time, eight Australians a day were dying by suicide. That number has since risen to nine.

“It just brings it into sharp focus how devastating and widespread this is.”

▲ Buildcorp’s site teams host ‘tools down’ barbecues to raise funds and spread awareness for the Lifeline Giving Day.

And within construction, those needs are growing more acute. 

Rising costs, labour shortages and project delays are placing increasing strain on businesses and smaller subcontractors operating on tight margins.

“Sometimes delaying a payment by 10 or 30 days might not hurt a large builder,” Sukkar says. “But for a subcontractor, it can be devastating.

“The pressure was already there in construction,” Sukkar says. “Now it’s being compounded from every direction.”

Buildcorp Foundation is backing the Lifeline Giving Day on Wednesday March 25 and Sukkar is encouraging the industry to support the cause and each other. 

“We’ve got to think about how we’re showing up for each other,” she says.

“The way we speak to people, the expectations we set, the risks we push down the chain—it all matters.”

“There’s actually a lot of beautiful humanity in this industry, people look after each other. We just need to build on that,” she says. 

The annual campaign raises funds to support Lifeline’s 24/7 crisis services, including phone, text and online support—channels that are increasingly vital for younger Australians.

Buildcorp Foundation has also focused on prevention and early intervention through partnerships with education departments and programs such as Smiling Mind to equip children, parents and teachers with the tools they need to manage mental health. 

“Mental health is either the cause or the outcome of disadvantage—it’s always there.”

For 24 hours, every dollar donated to Lifeline will be matched by the Buildcorp Foundation up to a total of $250,000. For more details visit lifeline.org.au.